Study shows U.S. losing drug war
http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/headline.php?id=319
Prices are falling, sales at all time high...
After 25 years and $25 billion the United States is further from winning the war on drugs, a study released Tuesday indicates.
The report conducted by the Washington Office on Latin America, a non-governmental organization that has the stated goal of trying to ??reorient U.S. drug control policy to the region,? concludes that U.S. policy geared toward ??reducing drug abuse and availability in the United States? from a ??supply-reduction model does not work.?
Citing falling wholesale and retail cocaine and heroin prices and collateral damage suffered in Latin American countries as a result of U.S. anti-drug policy, Joy Olson, executive director of WOLA, said, ??We??ve been tough on drugs, now it??s time to get smart on drugs.?
Research in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Bolivia and Central America ??reveals effects across Latin America and the Caribbean? are abundant, Coletta Youngers, one of the authors of the report, said at a news conference.
The three-year study, ??Drugs and Democracy in Latin America: The Impact of U.S. Policy,? includes independently recorded data and unreleased studies carried out by the Rand Corporation for the Office of National Drug Control Policy that were leaked to WOLA by a congressional office, according to John Walsh, WOLA senior associate for the Andes and drug policy.
Walsh and a senior adviser at the ONDCP confirmed the initial report had been submitted to the office in spring 2004 but has not yet been released.
Over the last 25 years U.S. policy has tried to attack the war on drugs from a supply-side perspective. Through the eradication of coca crops in producing countries, interdicting drug shipments to the United States and jailing drug offenders, authorities were hoping to significantly drive up the cost of cocaine and heroin??thus reducing cocaine??s economic appeal to potential users.
However, the attempted siphoning of the supply side has lowered street prices and increased the number of incarcerated drug offenders, driving up government spending, without significantly reducing the amount of drug flow, the study??s findings show.
Data compiled by WOLA show that since 1981 the retail price for 2 grams of cocaine went from $544.59 to $106.54 in 2003. Retail heroin prices mirrored the decline in cocaine prices, falling from $1,974.49 to $361.95 during the period.
Walsh noted that ??price estimates are manifestations of supply and demand? and thus are the most accurate indicators to ??determine what is coming in.?
The number of incarcerated drug offenders rose from 45,272 to 480,519 from 1981 to 2002, and government spending on overseas supply control rose from $373.9 million to $3.6 billion from 1981 to 2004.
Overall, government spending on supply control and the price of cocaine and heroin have had negatively correlated trends, with the price of cocaine decreasing by 32 percent and spending rising by almost 10 percent.
The greatest change occurred in the number of jailed drug offenders, which swelled by 55 percent, serving sentences that are sometimes incommensurate to the crime and could be addressed more cost effectively through drug rehabilitation, the report said.
Imperfections of the supply-side counter-drug effort are manifested in Latin America in the ??ballooning? effect of coca production, the propping up of smaller drug cartels that are harder to infiltrate and dismantle and the collateral damage inflicted on governments and democratic institutions.
The ballooning effect describes the attempts to eradicate illicit drug crops from one region or country only to have a reduction in that region result in an equal increase in production in another region or country.
??While the share of crops raised in each coca-producing country has fluctuated, the total land area under cultivation has not varied dramatically,? the authors of the study wrote.
A senior policy adviser from the ONDCP who spoke to UPI on the condition of anonymity refuted WOLA??s findings, citing a decrease of ??18 percent in 2003 in all the Andean region.?
The senior policy adviser said WOLA??s study used ??erroneous and misleading claims? when in reality the ONDCP ??budget is 45 percent demand reduction? and drug policy has spawned ??massive investment? for alternative crop development.
Collateral damage sustained on government institutions in Latin America include an increased and opaque role of the military in policing and judicial matters, repeated human-rights violations by military and police personnel, restrictions on civil liberties, political instability and crop eradication and alternative development programs.
One of the most direct criticisms of the United States implicated in this report is on the question of human rights.
??U.S. policy directly results in human rights abuses,? the report concluded, basing its assumptions on U.S. funding and training of special military and police units that have been shown to commit human-rights abuses with impunity.
Crop eradication and alternative-development policy is where the report suggests the greatest gains can be made with creative and intelligent policies.
Currently, the United States has embarked on a strategy of aerial fumigation of illicit crops, often targeting small-scale peasant cultivation.
The targeting of the base of the drug-trafficking pyramid structure, most notable in Colombia, ??has proven to be counterproductive? and ??almost all cost and no benefits,? according to Gustavo Gorriti, co-director of the Peruvian daily newspaper La Republica.
This is because the peasant farmers who cultivate coca as the only means to make a living wage see not only their coca crops fumigated but also their legal, tradable crops destroyed??driving them deeper into misery and delaying sustainable development.
The senior policy adviser for the ONDCP said most of the destruction of arable farm land is due to slash-and-burn techniques used by illicit-crop farmers who are dependent on ??narco-colonialism???a term describing the dependence of peasants on ruthless drug traffickers.
New policy, the study suggests, should focus more on combating high-level drug king pins, tracking money from drug sales, interdicting drug shipments close to home, spending more on education and rehabilitation and less on incarceration, and stopping forced eradication and introducing greater quantities of alternative-development assistance.
Peace
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
I know it may seem redundant to keep talking like this...but every argument against legalization can be beaten with the argument for decriminalization.
Under decriminalization, it would be legal to grow and share so long as you don't buy and sell it--like home brewing of beer and wine--you can make all you like, you just have to give it away.
Cannabis isn't decriminalized yet. Which means that what we need to do is prove to the government and other outside onlookers that it can be decriminalized responsibly--and the best way to do that is to work with your 1st Amendment Rights to Sanctify it which allows you to create Sanctuaries (Safe Houses) where it's legal to grow and share so long as you do it for free.
If we can create enough public sanctuaries and if we can get enough of them working together to create sharing networks, we keep everyone in good supply and totally free of charge since non-profits have to be donation reliant.
When you take the money out of the equasion, there's no drug trafficking, no tax evasion and no chance of taxation or government control. Not only will the medical community be able to access it, but everyone will be able to smoke it at their discretion so long as they share it for free and within the confines of an established sanctuary.
I've said it time and again, legalization starts with your attitude and your willingness to change it.
The dealers and the growers have to get around their greed and need for money so they can start showing off their talents for the greater good by providing their own talents for cannabinoid research, community growth and making their crops available to those that need it for their health.
We can build a community around this thing, we only need to change our attitude about making money off of weed.
Pateticus
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
i say F**K prohibition! blaze on!
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
What about Michael Jackson?
I personally believe that he can sleep with as many boys as he wants to.
As long as its consentual.
Whats up K-Dog?
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pateticus
I know it may seem redundant to keep talking like this...but every argument against legalization can be beaten with the argument for decriminalization.
Under decriminalization, it would be legal to grow and share so long as you don't buy and sell it--like home brewing of beer and wine--you can make all you like, you just have to give it away.
Cannabis isn't decriminalized yet. Which means that what we need to do is prove to the government and other outside onlookers that it can be decriminalized responsibly--and the best way to do that is to work with your 1st Amendment Rights to Sanctify it which allows you to create Sanctuaries (Safe Houses) where it's legal to grow and share so long as you do it for free.
If we can create enough public sanctuaries and if we can get enough of them working together to create sharing networks, we keep everyone in good supply and totally free of charge since non-profits have to be donation reliant.
When you take the money out of the equasion, there's no drug trafficking, no tax evasion and no chance of taxation or government control. Not only will the medical community be able to access it, but everyone will be able to smoke it at their discretion so long as they share it for free and within the confines of an established sanctuary.
I've said it time and again, legalization starts with your attitude and your willingness to change it.
The dealers and the growers have to get around their greed and need for money so they can start showing off their talents for the greater good by providing their own talents for cannabinoid research, community growth and making their crops available to those that need it for their health.
We can build a community around this thing, we only need to change our attitude about making money off of weed.
Pateticus
thats fucking brilliant!
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
HELL YEAH!! i ne4ed the cash but i would much rather beable to do what i love for free!!! count me in!
however a 5 yo kid isnt smart enough to make that choice. the way i see it is you have to have some pubic hair before your can make that choice. even then till your 18 you should have to be with in 5 years of each other..
PS if i found out someone harmed my kid i would be pissed! i have to say i would chalange him to a mans fight. in the front yard with empty hands.. only if he runs for the ass woopn should he go to jail... because i know all to well he would get far wose treatment in there.
ALSO!! Mike hasnt been CONVICTED of anything yet. he should get a fair trial just like everyone else. even if he humped a kin on the front lawn of the white house in full veiw of the world. how would you like it for someone to say HEY!! that guy is but fuggn my kid! *points at you* or HEY that guy is growing weed and has pounds of it in his room! would you like it if the feds took you to jail with out makeing sure?
besides we already got martha in jail what the hell would happen if mike was in there with her?? OMG!!! marta moon walking with a mask on while backeing a cake!!
Study shows U.S. losing drug war
Decrim is a step in the right direction but we need legalization of all drugs.
Decrim still allows for a black market, because only possession and distribution of small amounts would be allowed. The black market is where all your crime and violence comes from.
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
